Claymore Straker is a fugitive with a price on his head. Wanted by the CIA for acts of terrorism he did not commit, his best friend has just been murdered and Rania, the woman he loves, has disappeared. Betrayed by those closest to him, he must flee the sanctuary of his safe house in Cornwall and track her down.

As his pursuers close in, Clay follows Rania to Istanbul and then to Cyprus, where he is drawn into a violent struggle between the Russian mafia, Greek Cypriot extremists, and Turkish developers cashing in on the tourism boom. As the island of love descends into chaos, and the horrific truth is unveiled, Clay must call on every ounce of skill and endurance to save Rania and put an end to the unimaginable destruction being wrought in the name of profit.

Gripping, exhilarating and, above all, frighteningly realistic, The Evolution of Fear is a startling, eye-opening read that demands the question: How much is truth, and how much is fiction?

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy and for allowing me the chance to join the blog tour.

Claymore Straker, star of The Abrupt Physics of Dying, returns in a second outing from Paul Hardisty. My recollections of the first book was of an action packed environmental thriller which took the reader to exotic locations. So when The Evolution of Fear opened in the South of England I was slightly surprised!  No need for worry though as the action seemed to kick in from the first page and soon Mr Straker was off on his travels once again.

I always do the housekeeping when I cover a returning character…The Evolution of Fear can be read as a stand-alone thriller but there are several elements to the story which will be a little easier to follow if you have read The Abrupt Physics of Dying first (and in doing so you get to enjoy that great story too).

What I love about Paul Hardisty’s books is that you know you are in for an adventure. Straker is an action hero and is thrown from one confrontation to the next, he travels to exotic locations and has the beautiful Rania to keep safe from the various forces of evil. Not that Rania is not capable of looking after herself, a resourceful journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover corruption and feed the story to the media.

Straker has his work cut out this time out – there seem to be numerous factions keen to see the back of him. At times he cannot even be sure that he can trust his friends and this keeps the tension high as the story unfolds. At no point did I feel the story was slow paced, however, as I read deeper into the book I could feel momentum building. The action came thick and fast with everything building up towards a breathless finale.

I tend not to follow the ‘if you like x then you will love y’ recommendations. What I will suggest is that fans of high octane thrillers (Matthew Reilly and Scott Mariani sprang to mind) would be well advised to check out Paul Hardisty’s books.

The Evolution of Fear is available in paperback and digital formats and can be ordered here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-E.-Hardisty/e/B001K8KSBM/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1